The Golden Egg - “Killing the goose that laid the golden egg”

She is the only hen in the world that lays golden eggs. “Those who have plenty get greedy and want more, so losing all they have.”

We couldn’t have asked for a better story than The Golden Egg to explain the difference between a humans wants and needs. A poor farmer in search of the perfect opportunity, looking for that one abundant rainy season to make his crops grow. “Oh, holy lord! Let it rain,” said he. Not a speck of cloud he found in the sky. Sadly he was on his way home when he found a jungle fowl. Seeing no one near he picked it and went home. Lo, behold the next morning the hen had laid an egg. A golden egg, one that even a king would be jealous of. He sold it in the market and was able to put food on his family’s plate. Needs point toward something you must have to survive. The poor farmer was able to survive and meet the requirements of his family. A week later the hen gave him another and then another. The wants of his family began to increase. His greedy wife desired more. She thought there must be more gold inside the hen. In an attempt to have it all now, the man killed the goose to get all the gold only to learn he killed the source of his riches. To conclude, there are a variety of ways to meet a need or a want. For example, we all need to eat but, does that mean we need to eat Caviar & Black Truffle in a Michelin star restaurant? Economics deals with how we allocate scarce resources and those scarce resources may be needed to satisfy some people’s and other people’s wants. We study economics to help improve the individual allocation of resources and the choices we make. Rapid or poorly planned development causes “quality of place” to deteriorate, reducing both current welfare and the prospects for future growth